President.

Question no 45 by Georgios Toussas (H-1085/06)

Subject: Unethical banking practices

Generally unpopular EU and Member State Government policies have emboldened banks to charge exorbitant and illegal interest rates, unethically extracting enormous sums of money from borrowers and working people in general. This is illustrated by the fact that the Bank of Greece has fined credit institutions € 25 million for lack of transparency and unethical practices while, at the same time, introducing more flexible penalties for unredeemed checks and refusing to identify the banks which have been fined.

What view does the Commission take of identifying to the mass media banks which have been fined by the Member State supervisory authorities for unethical and illegal practices, with a view to providing information and a degree of protection for borrowers and depositors in general?